Xbox One X 4K Back-Compat

How the emulation technology in Xbox One X is helping resurrect the last two generations of Xbox classics in 4K.

- Dave Meikleham

Father Time hates technology. Whereas great books and paintings can have everlasting appeal, the passing years often ravage tech-driven industries.

Unless you’re dealing with Jurassic Park, almost any ‘90s blockbuster will now singe your eyes with cringe thanks to shoddy CGI. Similarly, those 15-year-old games that looked amazing on your tiny 14-inch CRT TV now run at such low resolutions they’re virtually unplayable. That’s why backwards compatibility on Xbox One— and Xbox One X, in particular—is such a big deal. Since Microsoft cracked the emulation tech in 2015, it’s committed to making its current consoles hubs for celebrating Xbox’s rich history. And now, with the arrival of the X, select original Xbox and Xbox 360 titles have been revitalized in glorious Ultra HD.

Join us, as we look at the amazing technology behind the back-compat initiative that’s giving classic games fresh 4K life.

It may surprise you, but the lion’s share of Xbox One’s backwards compatibility (be it S or X) is handled by software, not the machine itself. “In order to make this happen, which we didn’t think was initially possible, we went ahead and built a virtual [Xbox] 360 entirely in software,” Bill Stillwell, who is a Microsoft platform lead, told Larry ‘Major Nelson’ Hryb on the Xbox icon’s YouTube show. “We then take old 360 games and run them in the emulator.” In essence, the process isn’t a million miles removed from those PC programs that allow you to play old 16-bit-games on your laptop. Um, not that we’ve ever done anything like that… *cough*.